1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a legged mobile robot.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, autonomous moving devices have been proposed (for example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-202815 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,515,614), which detect obstacles using ultrasonic sensors, infrared sensors, or the like so that the moving speed or the like will be reduced to control the movement of the devices in order to avoid contact with the obstacles.
However, since a legged mobile robot moves while repeating lifting off and landing on a floor of each foot, it has such a unique moving pattern that the landing positions of each foot are not continuous but are discrete. Therefore, merely decelerating the speed of the robot or making the robot stop to avoid contact with the obstacles could make the behavior of the robot unstable. For example, when the leg of the robot is about to land on a floor, if the landing position (or the length of stride of the robot) or the landing timing is changed, the behavior of the robot could become unstable because of the need to keep its balance by its body or the like.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a legged mobile robot capable of avoiding contact with objects while keeping the behavior of the robot stable in view of the unique moving pattern of the legged mobile robot.